Positive Psychology for Family Caregivers and Their Dying Loved Ones

Death comes for all of us, but it need not steal our joy. This thesis presents three pillars of positive psychology – mindfulness, compassion, and resilience– as tools for cultivating wellbeing in end of life care and outlines how they can be applied to benefit both caregiver and receiver. Modern medicine allows us to live longer than ever before, but it cannot cure the two “unfixables” of aging and dying. Positive psychology can help us work with the reality of death and dying, coming to terms with it rather than fighting against it to live our best possible life in the face of death. This thesis works to cultivate a death positive culture and promote death literacy and awareness to better support living and dying well.